Worldwide Food Waste in Muslim Marriage Ceremonies: a Case Study Conducted in Karachi, a Mega City of 23.5 Million, and City of Diverse Muslim Communities

International Journal of Business, Economics and Law, Vol. 10, Issue 5 (Aug.) ISSN 2289-1552 2016 WORLDWIDE FOOD WASTE IN MUSLIM MARRIAGE CEREMONIES: A CASE STUDY CONDUCTED IN KARACHI, A MEGA CITY OF 23.5 MILLION, AND CITY OF DIVERSE MUSLIM COMMUNITIES Abdulrauf Farooqi1, 1Professor, Environment and Energy Management (EEM), IoBM, Karachi, Pakistan Akhlaq Ahmed2 2Professor and Director Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC), IoBM, Karachi, Pakistan, Muhammad Faisal Yaseen3 3MBA Environment and Energy Management (EEM) Student, Quality and Hygiene Supervisor, PIA Catering Food Service, Jinnah International Terminal, Karachi, Pakistan ABSTRACT Based on findings in Karachi, a mega case study city of diverse Muslim communities where averagely a person wastes 475 g food in marriages which is more than the average food consumed per meal at home. The diversity of Muslims in Karachi is like a rainbow of all colors and many ethnicities. The study stipulated that cumulatively worldwide Muslims waste 26.81 million tons food in marriage ceremonies. This colossal food waste will offset hunger of 184.81 million, 92.40 million, and 20.53 million people with one, two, and three meals per day. To offset hunger with three meals daily the entire population of Somalia and Haiti can benefit from worldwide saved food in Muslim marriages. Food waste inefficiencies and consumption behavior in different age groups and genders revealed inefficiencies in food consumption behavior. Main food waste causes during marriages entailed very late serving, inappropriate food combination, guest’s perception about food shortage, large per unit food portions, and scrambling of food tables. Food waste inadequacies and consumption behavior in different age groups and genders revealed inefficiencies in food consumption behavior. Good science indicates the rise in obesity and diabetes amongst Muslims in South Asia and Middle East are linked to the consumption of super-rich caloric food, notoriously sugary sweets/desserts with inactive cultural habit of exercise/walk is a recipe for obesity/diabetes. Since the present cultural norms of food waste have taken hundreds of years, it will require paradigm shift to inculcate the basic Muslim faith of eating modestly, refraining from lavish eating, and slicing down food portions/sweets to avoid obesity. The savings in food waste will offset hunger and allow obligatory fulfillment of basic human rights and obligatory fulfillment of the right of education for both genders in Islam. Proposed action plan to overcome food waste include use of OIC and IDB platform for collection/distribution, all Muslims to halve their expenditure on wedding receptions to contribute the remaining half for marriages amongst poor communities and developing awareness message with invitations; hoarding of public message along food tables to encourage self consciousness from undue food waste and saving waste. Key words: Marriage Ceremonies, Saving Food Waste, Offsetting Hunger, Paradigm Shift, Action Plan for Saving Food Waste 1. Introduction 1.1 Background The worldwide Muslim population generally floating amongst Muslims hover between 1.6 and 1.7 billion (Eshai, 2015; The Intellect Bulletin, 2014, and Muslim Population, 2015) whereas Western sources contend Muslim population to be about 2.06 billion and 2.01 worldwide Christians out of total average world population of 7.22 billion (World Muslim Population, 2015, and Religious Population, 2015). The annual growth rate of Muslims and Christians estimated at 1.84% and 1.32 % respectively (World Population, 2015; US Census, 2015, and World Muslim Population, 2015). This lead us to understand that today one out of every four person in the world is a Muslim. Karachi the largest city of 23.5 million in Pakistan is teeming with 68 percent youth (The Express Tribune, 2015) out of total 191 million people (Pakistan’s Population A, B, and C, 2015) is extrapolated to contain 16 million youth. It was ironic that food wastes during marriage ceremonies in Karachi are ubiquitously seen in all the segments of society. Anthropologists contend Karachi as the melting pot of all Muslim cultures in Pakistan. On the contrary hunger can be substantially overcome in Pakistan and among Muslims in general by taking appropriate preventive measures to eliminate food waste during marriages. Karachi is the melting pot of all Muslim colors, many ethnicities, and diverse sects living in Asia. The city is like a rainbow of Muslim diversity representing all colors, sects, and most ethnicities and is also like all colored and shades of jewels emanating from many water bodies most meticulously and beautifully laid. Karachi is the commercial capital and largest mega city of Pakistan. 61 International Journal of Business, Economics and Law, Vol. 10, Issue 5 (Aug.) ISSN 2289-1552 2016 The country is bordered on north and east with the two most populous countries in the world. The city is mainly comprised of Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Africa, Arabs, China, India and internal rural-urban migrants from Baluchistan, Kashmir, Punjab and Sindh. Presently Karachi boasts as hosting largest conglomeration of Muslim Pushtoons in the World. In addition, Karachi also hosts minority of Muslims migrants from non-traditional countries/ethnicity like Central Asian Republics and more than dozen countries ranging from Armenia, Brits, Dutch, Portuguese, Somalis, and Turks etc. including splashes of Non- Muslim religions such as Ahmadies, Christians, Hinduism, Judaism, and Zoroastrians ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karachi: accessed Aug.8,2016) Though worldwide the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (UNMDG) Goal Number 1 ‘Eradication of Poverty’ extreme poverty has been halved but Pakistan has not made dent in its reduction. Translating the World Bank estimates in regard to Pakistan’s where 60% population i.e., about 115 million live below poverty line sleep hungry. Sadly on the regional scale, the poverty is significantly lower than Pakistan. This is because independent observers contend that Pakistan’s poverty eradication initiatives such as Benazir Income Support Program, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, Tameer Watan Program, Pakistan Bait- ul Maal, Employees Old Age Benefit Scheme, Workers Welfare Fund, and Subsidy on Food have benefitted a small percentage of the population, the progress on poverty eradication in Pakistan has been disappointing (Ali, 2015). Control on food waste or saving food in marriage ceremonies can substantially overcome poverty. In this study the food is considered waste in between cooking and serving/eating in marriages/social functions. It is painful to see excessive food waste in both developed and underdeveloped countries such as Pakistan where control on food waste in marriage ceremonies can substantially offset hunger in Karachi. Though food waste studies have been conducted in India, UK, China, Korea, Japan and Malaysia, statistics on food waste during wedding ceremonies has been extremely limited. Holy Quran 6:141 says’ Do not waste, for Allah does not love the wasteful’. (The Noble Quran, 1985) Controlling food waste in general and marriage ceremonies in particular is though chronic social issue; it requires intrinsic understanding of the problem. Muslim marriage in Pakistan is contracted by offer and acceptance in the presence of witnesses. Culturally, it is a link between the husband and wife and an alliance between two families. Islamic marriage laws are claimed to be followed in Pakistan because about 97% population is Muslim. However during marriage ceremonies conglomeration of various customs and traditions including a blend of Islamic and non-Islamic traditions are widely observed all over the world amongst Muslims. Though Islamic marriage is a legal obligation, Muslims generally do not follow religion during marriage ceremonies and instead most marriage traditions are drawn from other cultures such as Hinduism in Pakistan. Apropos, the objectives of the present study were: a. To understand current food wastage in wedding ceremonies amongst Muslims in Karachi and worldwide b. To suggest measure to mitigate food loses during marriage and social functions, and c. To suggest efficient and effective utilization of food 2. Food Waste Food waste is not only the Muslim’s issue but a global issue of mankind. Food Waste refers to the ultimate loss of edible food destined for human consumption. The food loss occurs at all the stages from farm to table. In developed countries most food waste is at consumption stage whereas in developing countries the most loss is during supply chain. The FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) estimates that globally one third (approximately 1.3 billion tons per year) food produced for human gets wasted out of which total food waste in UK, Sub-Saharan Africa and Worldwide are of the order of 8.3, 230, and 1300 million tons per annum respectively. Karachi being the mega city of Pakistan is the largest city in the Muslim world, and third- largest in the world has population density of over 24,000 people per square kilometer (63,000 per square mile). Karachi’s middle class constitutes 55% (13 million) whereas the remainder 25% (5.8 million) and 20% (4.7 million) fall in upper and lower class (Dawn News, 2012 and Durr-e-Nayab, 2010). Holy Quran 7:31 states, “And Eat and drink, but not by extravagance (excessive). Indeed, He (Allah) likes not those who waste by extravagance, or by committing excess (The Noble Quran, 1985).” A Hadith in Tirmizi further advises Muslims to leave “one third of the belly with food, another third with drink and leave one third empty for easy breathing’ 2.1 Excesses Food Consumption is a growing World Muslim’s Problem Worldwide nearly two billion people in the age group of 15 and over are overweight i.e., obese. It will be surprising to know that obesity is more than twice as many underweight people in the world. Obesity substantially increases risk of diabetes, hypertension, heart attack, stroke, osteoarthritis, gall bladder disease, respiratory complications, and some cancer (Cunningham and Cunningham, 2015, and Gustavsson et al., 2013).

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